And we have left! The first full week of college football saw a Saturday full of wild games early on and standout performances later.
The sample size is small — and we’re still waiting for the winners of Florida State-LSU (Sunday, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) and Georgia Tech-Clemson (Monday, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN) this holiday weekend — but it’s never too early to look to the distant horizon and what this could mean for the College Football Playoff.
Ohio State has taken a harder-than-expected victory over Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish forced the Buckeyes into more points than they had in a game last season, but the Buckeyes found their run game in the second half and held on to a win they can fall back on in December.
Defending National Champion Georgia looked better than ever, beating Oregon and the afternoon program. Quarterback Stetson Bennett completed a whopping 80% of his passes before departing in the third quarter.
The Pac-12’s chances of a playoff berth took a hit when Utah came just ahead of Florida in The Swamp, but USC—behind three pick-sixes—could be a force under new coach Lincoln Riley.
Alabama stranded behind five touchdown passes from Bryce Young, the most ever for a Crimson Tide QB in a season opener, as the top-10 teams Texas A&M, Michigan, Oklahoma and Baylor rode to victories.
With Week 1 largely in the books, this is how ESPN’s college football reporters see the very early playoff picture.
Andrea Adelson: Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame
Blake Baumgartner: Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson
Kyle Bonagura: Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson
Bill Connelly: Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Arkansas
Heide Dinich: Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, Notre Dame
David Hale: Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Oklahoma
Chris Low: Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson
Harry Lyles: Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson
Adam Rittenberg: Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson
Alex Scarbrough: Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson
Paolo Uggetti: Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame
Tom Van Haaren: Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Texas A&M
Dave Wilson: Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma
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